You're right, it was more me imagining Philly fans than the actual comments.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you people? My pal Rory left me a VM last night that sounded like his mom had died

philly fans are all intelligent and well behaved, the rif raf are all plants

Are the people in Philly really as upset as they're making them out to be. ESPN was making it sound like 90% of the population was outraged.

also, I heard the headline in the Philly paper was "Hide Your Dogs" ...pretty harsh.

the callers on 610 are mostly bummed, with a few excited and a few outraged

my friends reactions have ranged from "i'll never watch them while he's on the team" to "oh shit, wildcat!"

Couldn't have happened to a better team. Even though the Eagles have a history of signing former Dawgs, I can easily say they're my least favorite team in the NFL.

The Eagles frequently claim to only sign character guys, and obviously ignored that philosophy when signing Owens, But Owens is only a showboat locker room cancer and it was excusable. But now they can never ever claim that ever again

press conference starting now

Way. To. Go.

Chill with the generalizations bro, you know that's not true. The Assholes you see that are portrayed in the national spotlight as philly fans, are usually all fucking idiots. We are for the most part intelligent about the sport and team we root for, and know what the hell is going on. But let's hear your justification for why this is a good thing for the eagles, and we are idiots for being so pissed off. I see no point in it from a bettering of the team angle. They have a Qb in McNabb, they have their future, or say they say, in Kolb and as far as my dumb, irrational, ass can figure out..Only one QB can play at a time. It's known you hate philly, but let's not start this bs again.

You have idiots that root for every team, philly is not alone in that area. Besides, how many times have you actually been to philly to form such a strong opinion or is it just a general north vs. south thing ?

Kolb is most likely out for the season.

i'm reading mixed things on Kolb, new reports say he'll only be out a few weeks.

You can never have too many QB's...especially such a versatile one for only $1.6 Mil. You're #1 back-up is injured and may never pan out. Having options is smart. What if Andy Reid can mold Vick into a great qb like he did with McNabb?

Wildcat formation, slot receiver, punt returns, KO if the QB thing fails.

Do people not actually watch football?

Even before Mc Nabb, Reid picked up qb tutoring skills from working with Holmgren in Green Bay. Favre, Brunell, T. Detmer... To a point, Aaron Brooks. Hasselbeck.

Lots of knowledge, there.

Oh man. You Philly folks have no idea what has just happened.

Mike Vick was the single most polarizing sports figure in the history of Atlanta sports. During his time here the fan base has supporters and detractors of his about everything from race, QB intelligence, running QB vs Pocket passer, not being able to read complex playbooks or defenses, etc, etc, etc. This was BEFORE any of the bad shit started going down. Seriously, when the dog fighting charges came down, local sportstalk was DOMINATED by talk of Vick for a solid 6 months, prompting one local station to literally have a day where they put a moratorium on Vick talk for 1 day. It was exhaustive and it got mean and nasty even when things were good.

You may call BS, but to this day, there are tons of Vick supporters here. I've heard them call in today saying they pull for the Falcons but they're supporting Vick and will be buying his jersey, etc.

It's complete insanity. The best thing you've got going is stability in an Eagles team and the fact that there is ZERO doubt who the leader of the team is in McNabb.

But, be prepared for arguments over this guy at every tailgate, picnic, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.

Also, agree with Chad, jericho, and Monty.

Vick isn't being brought in as the QB, even though that skill will be valuable to the team. He's being brought in as the ultimate X-factor.

He can be used a 100 different ways. Ways that a D-coordinator has to game plan for. The Eagles are a better team today than they were yesterday. Disclaimer: IF he's at least 85% of what he was when he left the league.


Also, if he still maintained his legs, why couldn't you give him a 10 play playbook and throw him in for a series in the 3rd quarter and run a no-huddle offense just as a wrinkle in your offense?

Quoted for future use.

Derris, you are exactly right...He is going to polarize this city like no other player before him. I don't deny the guys is talented, quick etc. I just think the drama is not needed heading into this year..It's already started with the reporters asking McNabb if he thinks his job is safe if he doesn't perform up to par. Again, this season will be very exciting, but possibly for all the wrong reasons.

Don't get me wrong though. I watched about 80% of the games he played for Atlanta and I saw him do some of the most amazing shit I've ever seen on a football field just to get 4 yards and a first down.

When he would get outside of the tackles and in the open field, he was the most exciting player in football.

He was talented enought to beat 70-80% of the teams in the league but the issue was when you got into that upper tier of teams with great defenses. They would contain him and force him to beat them with his arm and he rarely could do it. I remember Tampa's D used to shut him down regularly.

But, Philly won't have to have him do that. If they need to beat someone in the air, they've got McNabb.

Your response here pretty much typifies the inferiority complex of Philly.

First off I don't hate Philly: I actually really like the city and think its a neat place to visit and hang out. Secondly, for you to write off the actions of Philly sports fans as somehow typical is laughable and you know it: You don't get these reputations for nothing.

As to why I think its a good move for the Eagles and I think you should too (or at least consider it):

1. Don't you trust your organization? After the Patriots and the Steelers is there a better more consistent front office in the league?

2.They are basically paying nothing and risking nothing for a potential game changer. If it doesn't go well or if he fucks up somehow, its an easy cut bait and no one would question a thing.

3. McNabb has signed off on this (for now), is locked up with a new deal, is friends with Vick and probably thinks that he can do the guy some good. Also, the Eagles wouldn't have done this if A. They thought McNabb could make it a whole season and B. They thought Kolb was the right guy as a backup. Its an insurance policy and a cheap one at that.

4. The X factor stuff that Derris and others laid out.

5. The Humane Society, Tony Dungy and even Arthur Blank are behind this guy getting another shot. He did two years in Federal Prison; why not let him do it with a good organization and as a fan of that team root for a good story?

So now it's an inferiority complex ? You talk shit and say "proving once again to be the dumbest, most irrational people on the planet" about philly fans. There is no inferiority complex involved in that, it's you talking shit regarding philly, so I'm just a little on the defensive. Is it a good move from a strickly footbal perspective, yeah maybe so, is the bullshit drama needed..Not really.

Do I trust the organization, no I do not..This is the same organization that tried to pass off Na Brown, Todd Pinkston and Greg Lewis as legit receivers. Not to mention drafting Freddie Mitchell in the 1st round. They pulled this for the first 6-7 years of McNabb's career when even a blind man knew we won because of mostly our d and McNabb's legs. Not our passing threats at WR that they tried to constantly shove down our throats.

I'm also not writing off the actions of philly fans as something typical. Assholes are assholes and they reside in every major city. Just the other night some drunk fool threw a beer on Shane Victorino in Chicago, that happens everywhere but if it happened here all we would hear about is the typical philly fan bs and about the santa snowball incident. But to say that philly fans are the worst in all of sports, is nuts.

McNabb had his contract reworked, but not extended..He got more money, but not an extension..So while he may be welcoming Michael Vick into the clubhouse, I'm sure the fact is in the back of his mind that he could take his job if McNabb falters.

Look man, I'm not trying to start some whole argument here over this You made a pretty shitty and general blanket statement about philly fans, and as one, I'm gonna call bullshit on it. You've talked shit on philly in general in the past, and that may be why I am a little defensive.This city has a lot to offer, but by no means is it perfect..Shit I live here and love it, but I hate 95% of it's inhabitants.

I'm all for giving the dude a 2nd chance, I'm not an asshole and if he came out of all that happened and is a better person for it, then that's great. So inferiority complex, no...Defensive, yes.

yb lives in Atlanta. surely you could come back strong with something about that city and its fans.

There is risk: it's the media frenzy and distractions he will provide.

Also, I just don't want to root for him. I'm all for him having a second chance at life. That doesn't mean he should get to make millions of dollars playing football and that sure as hell doesn't mean I want him on my team.

It's a lose-lose scenario for me. Best case, he doesn't play at all. Then it's no big deal, but a complete waste. Still, at least I can avoid rooting for him and maybe even feel good about AR and McNabb trying to help him out. But what it he's good. Then, I have to deal with the moral ambiguity of wanting to root for my team but not him. It sucks.

Is that saying that Vick should play pro football for $15/hour?
I very strongly think that pro athletes are overpaid. But you can't seriously be blaming Mike Vick for that...

and I think that since the Vet got torn down, Philly sports fans are really no worse than any others. We can be overly critical of our own players, but that's hardly exclusive.

Well, I totally just wrote up a huge response as to why Philadelphia fans are miscast as the worst fans in sports, but somehow it disappeared into the unseen folds of the internet, never to return. I'm not going to retype it. But it is worth noting that the perception of Philly fans being the worst comes about for several reasons:

1) Several extreme examples, the most often cited being the "booing Santa" incident which happened in 1968. That's over 40 years ago by my math. (It's worth noting that as an english major I really don't understand numbers and I initially calculated that at 50 years. Oi vey!)

2) The media has leapt on the extreme examples and formulated a hypothesis "Philly fans are bad." So they, always intent on delivering a story that will sell, repeat the old stories over and over... while taking any little thing that happens today as reinforcements of the stereotype.

3) The player/fan relationships in Philadelphia is the most interesting in sports. To succeed in Philadelphia the player has to realize that the fans aren't booing them... they are booing a performance that they feel the player didn't give his all on. This is why you'll never see Chase Utley booed, even when his is struggling offensively. At the same time, that is why Bobby Abreu was booed all the time, even though he was a fairly consistent offensive producer: he was perceived as being a slacker because he didn't hustle. Yet the media has warped these boos into the simplification of, "Philly fans boo their own players, Philly fans are the worst in baseball."

Yet winning or losing Philadelphians come out to support their team. Even when they booed Santa, there was a packed out stadium while their football team was 2-12. While the Phillies have experienced a surge in attendance due to winning the World Series, even prior to that as the losingest franchise in sports they still consistantly put people in the seats. To Philadelphians sports are a passion akin to combining religion with politics with sports. They care deeply about their teams. You won't hear about that in the media, though.